FEATURE ARTICLES

This October saw the launch of the new ProCure21+ National Framework under which, the Department of Health (DH) team behind the new scheme claims, the NHS can potentially save a further £200 million of public money on top of the substantial sums saved under predecessor, ProCure21, via faster, more streamlined procurement, design, planning, and construction, of publicly-funded healthcare schemes.

Conor Ellis, head of health, Ed Baldwin, partner, and Rachel Dick, consultant, at international built asset consultancy EC Harris, present a “10-step guide” to help the NHS achieve radical efficiency savings, optimise the use of its estate, maximise the value of under-utilised land, buildings, and other assets, and harness better value from its existing FM operations.

Infection control is a paramount concern for hospitals worldwide. AECOM engineers in Australia designed the first ever displacement ventilation solution for a Melbourne hospital, researching how materials and systems can assist management of, and reduce, infection transmission within healthcare environments. HEJ reports.

Alan Bavis, facilities and engineering manager at New Zealand’s Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB), based in Christchurch, explains how well-rehearsed contingency planning procedures, reliable, well-maintained plant, and an “excellent team spirit”, combined with “sheer adrenaline”, helped he and his estates team keep vital hospital services running in the aftermath of the major earthquake which hit the country’s South Island in September this year.

Pioneering “state-of-the-art mobile” diagnostic technology, Cobalt claims its mobile MRI service is among the world’s most sophisticated charity-run operations of its kind. However, with its fleet of units constantly deployed at, or moving between, hospitals across the South West of England and Wales, the charity faces a potential logistical nightmare.

The PFI model has undoubtedly had its critics since the first PFI-funded healthcare facilities began appearing in the UK in the early 1990s, but, supporters emphasise, without PFI funding many much-needed hospitals would never have been built, and they point to numerous examples today of good PFI hospitals delivering an excellent service to their local community.

Aiming to provide a safe, secure, and therapeutic 21st Century care environment that will enable many patients to recover from serious mental illness and eventually return to the community, but in significantly less institutional and cramped surroundings, is the goal of a major £67 million rebuild project currently ongoing at the State Hospital in Lanarkshire.

How healthcare estates and facilities teams can best respond to the challenge of maintaining a safe, clean, and secure patient and staff environment at a time when not only are capital budgets being severely squeezed, but, in one headline speaker’s words, “the NHS is facing some of the most farreaching changes in its history”, was the major focus of both the presidential address, and the two keynote speeches – one of which also considered the case for “evidence-based” design – at this year’s Healthcare Estates conference and exhibition in Manchester. HEJ editor Jonathan Baillie reports.

As the UK’s largest organisation, with an annual purchasing budget of around £17 billion, the NHS has an enormous part to play in reducing the country’s energy consumption and emissions.

Steve Ruddell, division manager, Discrete Automation and Motion, at ABB, outlines the advantages of fitting variable speed drives and high efficiency motors into HVAC systems at a time when, faced with the need to cut costs, estates and facilities teams are having to look more closely than ever at reducing their buildings’ energy consumption.

Ronan Quinn, managing director of interior construction specialist Ardmac, describes the challenges of building and fitting out a new cleanroom laboratory for blood and bone marrow therapeutic treatment at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin in Dublin.

Adrian Popplewell, an associate at a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy Ramboll Acoustics, discusses the importance of good acoustics in the design of truly fit-for-purpose 21st Century healthcare buildings, agreeing that, as Florence Nightingale wrote in 1859: “Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted on the sick or well”.

With September having seen the end of the registration period for the introductory phase of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme, healthcare sector participants should already be monitoring their energy usage, and preparing their carbon reduction strategies.

A new Children’s Unit at Doncaster Royal Infirmary that combines single and multi-bedded children’s ward accommodation, observation and assessment facilities, and high dependency beds, all located on an extensively refurbished existing floor of the Infirmary’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital, has been given a bright, uplifting feel thanks to the extensive use of a special solid acrylic material from LG Hausys.

According to Elliott Off-Site Building Solutions, as the range of services offered by hospitals expands, an increasing number of specifiers are looking for more effective ways of delivering their estate requirements.

Martin West, head of the Healthcare Property consulting business at property consultancy, advice, and transaction services specialist Drivers Jonas Deloitte, argues that, with signs of improvement in the property market, now is a good time for estates managers to consider how efficiently their buildings are being utilised, and how sale, or different use of, under-used structures might help enhance their Trust’s operations and release much-needed capital.

According to Alan Hambidge, director of Empathy Environmental Consultants, having in place effective, documented risk management systems and policies should be “a given” for any large healthcare organisation today.

Paul Brockway, senior sustainability consultant at Arup, reports on a carbon footprint study undertaken at the Barts and the London NHS Trust which set out to “understand carbon hotspots and identify actions that can save both money and carbon”.

Building maintenance and the construction of new healthcare facilities are central to maintaining the NHS’s infrastructure, but such work is costly, and subject to intense financial scrutiny.

A recently published National Audit Office (NAO) report says that, although most of the 70-plus English PFI hospital contracts now operational are “achieving the value for money expected when the contracts were signed”, there “continue to be risks” to the long-term value of others.